CatStuff: A Few Famous Cat Lovers A FEW FAMOUS CAT LOVERS This article researched and compiled by Glenda Moore. Please do not redistribute this article. A-C Cleveland Amory (1917-1998) Author and animal rights promoter Amory devoted his life to promoting animal rights. He was best known for his books about his cat Polar Bear, whom he rescued from New York streets on Christmas Eve, 1977. Amory co-founded the Humane Society of the United States and founded the Fund for Animals. He was also the president of NEAVS (New England Anti Vivisection Society) from 1987 to 1998. Ian Anderson (1947- ) Musician Ian, of the classic rock band Jethro Tull, is a cat lover. A page on the official Jethro Tull webpage is dedicated to his writings about cats. Marie Antoinette (1755-1793) Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and Navarre King Louis XVI and wife, Marie Antoinette, allowed their Angora cats to roam about the tables during court gatherings.

Legend has it that six of her beloved white Angora cats arrived by ship in Maine, USA in the ship she had intended for her escape during the French revolution. Pope Benedict XVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger, 1927- ) Reigning head of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State His cat Chico, a black-and-white domestic short hair, continues to live at the pope’s home in Tübingen, Germany (pets are not allowed in the Vatican). Cardinal Roger Mahony, archbishop of Los Angeles, who was in Rome for the pope’s inauguration, says “The street talk that the pope loves cats is incorrect. The pope adores cats.” (no image Sultan El Daher Beybars, who was devoted to cats, bequeathed a garden known as Gheyt-el-Quoltah (the cats' orchard) near his mosque in Cairo for the support of homeless cats. The tradition continues to this day. At the time of afternoon prayer each day, meat is brought into the center of the garden, and cats from all over the city come for their share.

Alexander Borodin (1833-1887) Russian classical composer and chemist Borodin had many cats, one of which - Ryborov - learned to fish through holes in the ice in winter. ('Ryborov' means 'fisherman'.) Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855); Emily Bronte (1818-1848); Anne Bronte (1820-1849) Authors The three sisters were well-known as cat lovers. Their novels and poetry often showed their relationships with their felines. Charlotte and Anne often referred to their cats in their diaries. George Burns (1896-1996) American comedian, actor, and producer George Burns called his cat "Willie," reportedly because "when you tell the cat what to do, there's always a question of will he or won't he." Lord George Byron (1788-1824) Poet An lifelong friend, Poet Percy Shelley, once commented that Byron's "eight enormous dogs, three monkeys, five cats, an eagle, a crow, ...

a falcon, five peacocks, two guinea hens, and an Egyptian crane; and all these, except the horses, walk about the house ..." Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) Author (Phillip Marlowe private eye novels) Chandler talked to his black Persian, Taki, as though she was human and called her his secretary because she sat on his manuscripts as he tried to revise them. He stated, "A cat never behaves as if you were the only bright spot in an otherwise clouded existence...this is another way of saying that a cat is not a sentimentalist, which does not mean that it has no affection." Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British politician (notably, UK prime minister during World War II) Churchill's marmalade cat Jock slept with his master, shared his dining table, and attended numerous war-time Cabinet meetings. If Jock was late for meals, Churchill would send servants to find him, waiting to eat til the cat was present. Jock was said to have been with his master when he died. Churchill also had a cat, Nelson, named after the famous British admiral.

Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (1889–1963) French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, boxing manager and filmmaker Cocteau is best known for his 1929 novel Les enfants terribles, the 1929 play Les parents terribles, and the 1946 film, Beauty and the Beast. His famous quotes include: “I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul” and "A meow massages the heart." He dedicated Drôle de Ménage to his cat Karoun, whom he described as "the king of cats." D-H Charles Dickens (1812-1870) Author (works include Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickelby, David Copperfield, A Christmas Carol) Charles' cat, Willamena, produced a litter of kittens in his study. Dickens was determined not to keep the kittens, but he fell in love with one female kitten who was known as "Master's Cat". She kept him company in his study as he wrote, and when she wanted his attention she was known to snuff out his reading candle.

Alexander Dumas (1802-1870) Author (works include The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo) Dumas owned a cat called Mysouff. This cat was known for his extrasensory perception of time. Mysouff could predict what time his master would finish work, even when his master was working late. Albert Einstein (1879-1955) Physicist Fond of animals, Einstein kept a tomcat named Tiger who tended to get depressed whenever it rained. One acquaintance recalled him saying to the melancholy cat: "I know what's wrong, dear fellow, but I don't know how to turn it off." Einstein was also quoted as saying, "A man has to work so hard so that something of his personality stays alive. A tomcat has it so easy, he has only to spray and his presence is there for years on rainy days." T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) Nobel Prize-winning British poet and playwright T.S. Eliot was a cat lover and wrote an entire book of poems about cats.

His Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats was set to music by Andrew Lloyd Weber and became the long-running musical, Cats. Robert Goulet (1933- ) Recording artist, star of stage, screen and TV Goulet has loved cats since childhood. When he toured the country as King Arthur in Lerner and Loewe's musical Camelot, he took along two of his cats - Vincent and Wart. Several years ago, the cat-count in Goulet's Las Vegas home was up to seven. Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) Author (works include For Whom the Bell Tolls, Old Man and the Sea) Hemingway shared his Key West home with more than 30 cats. The story goes that Hemingway made the acquaintance of a sea captain who owned an unusual six-toed tomcat. Upon his departure from Key West, the captain presented the cat to Hemingway. Today many of the numerous cats that inhabit the grounds still possess the unusual six toes.

Hemingway once said, "A cat has absolute emotional honesty; human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not." Victor Hugo (1802-1885) Author Hugo is considered one of the greatest author in the history of French literature, one notable book being Les Miserables. He wrote fondly in his diary about his cats. J-L Dr Samuel Johnson (1709-84) English author Dr. Johnson is perhaps best known for his great English dictionary, published in 1755. Johnson had a pet cat named Hodge whom he fed oysters and other luxurious treats. Edward Lear [1812-1888] Artist, illustrator and writer Edward was devoted to Foss, his tabby cat. When he decided to move to San Remo, Italy, he instructed his architect to design a replica of his old home in England so Foss would not be disturbed and suffer a minimum of distress after the move. Lear’s drawings of his striped tabby cat are well known, especially those which accompany his rhyme, The Owl and the Pussycat . When Foss died, he was buried in Lear's italian garden.

Robert E. Lee (1807-1870) Career army officer (Confederate army General during the American Civil War) Lee had several cats tha he referred to often in letters to his family: "I am very solitary and my only company is my dog and cats. Spec [a dog] has become so jealous now that he will hardly let me look at the cats." He chose cats to share his tent at Camp Cooper partly for mousing, and partly for company. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870 – 1924) Founder of the Russian Community party and first head of the Soviet government Not much is known about Lenin's affection for cats, though he had been filmed and photographed holding and petting various cats. John Lennon (1940-1980) Singer The famous Beatle loved cats; as a boy he reportedly cycled to the fishmonger's to buy hake for his cat. He named his first cat Mimi after his cat-loving aunt. He and his first wife Cynthia had up to ten cats.

Pope Leo XII (1760-1829) Head of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State Pope Leo owned a grayish-red cat with black stripes called Micette, who was born in the Vatican and lived with the Pope. Reportedly, the pope occasionally gave audiences with the cat hidden on his lap under his robes. Similarly, an earlier religious figure, St. Gregory the Great (540-604) possessed no worldly goods except a cat, which he held and stroked while meditating. Charles Lindbergh (1902-1974) American aviator Charles Lindbergh's cat Patsy occasionally accompanied him on flights (though not on the flight that made him famous). A Spanish stamp commemorating his record-breaking flight from New York to Paris shows Patsy watching as his plane took off. Louis XV (1710-1774) King of France The King had a favorite white cat that was allowed to play on the table during Councils of State.

M-P Henri Matisse (1869-1954) French artist Matisse loved the company of cats, and when forced to remain in bed due to poor health, he would be joined there by his favorite black cat. Freddie Mercury (1946-1991) Founder of the rock group Queen Delilah , released on Queen's album "Innuendo," is a song Mercury penned for his favorite housecat, a female tortoiseshell named Delilah. When on tour, he would call London to talk to his several cats. Freddie dedicated his first solo album, "Mr. Bad Guy," to his beloved cats (Tom, Jerry, Oscar, Tiffany, Delilah, Goliath, Miko, Romeo, Lily). He is shown with Oscar and Tiffany. (no image 30 Renowned Authors Inspired By Cats Your Post Has Been Launched! Fabulous! Don't forget to share with your friends on Twitter and Facebook. 30 Renowned Authors Inspired By Cats Cats – with all their mysteriousness and adorableness and softness – have served as muses for some of the most brilliant writers in the world for centuries.

Some notable examples, amazing pictures, and charming quotes from 30 of the best kitty/writer combo deals. writersandkitties.tumblr.com ID: 563794 French poet, novelist, and filmmaker (as well as playwright, designer, and artist) Jean Cocteau is most famous for his novel Les Enfants terribles (The Holy Terrors) and his films, including Blood of a Poet, Beauty and the Beast, and Orpheus. He was also famous for being part of elite social circle that included Pablo Picasso, Kenneth Anger, Coco Chanel, Marlene Dietrich, and Édith Piaf. Cocteau was additionally a cat devotee who helped to found a club in Paris called the “Cat Friends Club” that had a membership pin and sponsored cat shows. Conclusion: Jean Cocteau would have been my ideal friend when I was twelve years old (and also now). ID: 570488 The Cat Friends Club membership pin designed by Jean Cocteau.

Via anamontielblog.blogspot.com ID: 570558 “I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul.” - Jean Cocteau Jean Cocteau and artist Tsuguharu Foujita with an award winning cat, at a cat show sponsored by the “Cat Friends” Club of Paris catladiesproject.blogspot.com ID: 570450 Via writersandkitties.tumblr.com ID: 563859 Horror, fantasy, and science-fiction author Stephen King has written 49 novels, nine collections of short stories, and five non-fiction books. He is also well-known for the many films based on his work, including The Shining, Stand By Me, and Pet Semetary. Despite once writing in a short story that “it might be that the biggest division in the world isn’t men and women but folks who like cats and folks who like dogs,” it seems that the King family does in fact keep both cats and dogs as pets.

Note that the cat in these (awesome) photos is wearing a name tag that reads “Clovis,” the name used in King’s screenplay Sleepwalkers for a cat who [spoilers] saves the day. ID: 570198 Via writersandkitties.tumblr.com ID: 566725 “Cats were the gangsters of the animal world, living outside the law and often dying there. There were a great many of them who never grew old by the fire.” - Stephen King, Pet Semetary writersandkitties.tumblr.com ID: 563894 Neil Gaiman, author of novels, short fiction, graphic novels, and more, is perhaps most well-known for his comic book series The Sandman, his young adult novel Coraline, his novel American Gods, and for being a total badass and a god among the best of nerds. Neil Gaiman also really, really, really loves cats. He has multiple cats and often chronicles their adventures on his blog .

The cats he’s had recently include Coconut, Hermione, Pod, Zoe, and the imitable Princess, who Gaiman describes thusly: “I’ve grown so used to having a bad-tempered but beautiful cat that I need to warn visitors about. She’s outlasted all the cats I loved and all the cats I bonded with. And I think she’s grown very used to me. When Zoe died, it was really easy to explain to people how much you could miss a sweet, gentle cat who was nothing but a ball of utter love. I’m going to have a much harder time one day, months or even years from now, explaining why I miss the meanest, grumpiest and most dangerous cat I’ve ever encountered.” ID: 570206 Neil with Zoe, who recently passed away. Via journal.neilgaiman.com ID: 567403 Via journal.neilgaiman.com ID: 567404 Neil on Zoe: “And I’m wondering what it is about this small blind cat that inspires such behaviour — mine, Olga’s, Lorraine’s….

I’ve had cats in this house for 18 years, and there are cat-graves down by gazebo. Two cats died of old age last year. It wasn’t like this. I think it may be the love. Hers, once given, was yours, unconditionally and utterly.” ID: 570212 writersandkitties.tumblr.com ID: 563738 Existentialist philosopher and author Jean Paul Sartre was a key figure in Marxism and 20th century french philosophy whose main thrust was that humans are “condemned to be free.” He did not believe that humans had a creator, and thought that we were fully responsible for our actions – “we are left alone, without excuse.” Although Sartre’s relationship with cats isn’t well-documented, he is seen above holding a very handsome feline while at work. Sartre was also one of the obvious inspirations for Henri, the existential cat, and it is thought possible that all cats are, by nature, existentialists.

ID: 570219 Via posterrevolution.com ID: 568105 Jack Kerouac, author of On The Road, was a poet and novelist who was a pioneer of the “beat generation” and was famous for his spontaneous, free-flowing style and autobiographical honesty. He was an underground celebrity during his tragically short life (he died at age 47 of internal bleeding due to alcohol abuse), and has been a hero to teenagers and iconoclasts ever since. ID: 570232 writersandkitties.tumblr.com ID: 563770 Jack also loved cats, especially his cat Tyke, whose unfortunate passing he wrote about in loving detail in his memoir Big Sur.

“The next sign is in Frisco itself where after a night of perfect sleep in an old skid row hotel room I go to see Monsanto at his City Lights bookstore and he’s smiling and glad to see me, says ‘We were coming out to see you next weekend you should have waited,’ but there something else in his expression — When we’re alone he says, ‘Your mother wrote and said your cat is dead.’ Ordinarily the death of a cat means little to most men, a lot to fewer men, but to me, and that cat, it was exactly and no lie and sincerely like the death of my little brother — I loved Tyke with all my heart, he was my baby who as a kitten just slept in the palm of my hand and with his little head hanging down, or just purring for hours, just as long as I held him that way, walking or sitting — He was like a floppy fur wrap around my wrist, I just twist him around my wrist or drape him and he just purred and purred and even when he got big I still held him that way, I could even hold that big cat in both hands with my arms outstretched right over my head and he’d just purr, he had complete

 confidence in me — and when I’d left New York to come to my retreat in the woods I’d carefully kissed him and instructed him to wait for me ‘Attends pour mue kitigingoo’ — But my mother said in the letter he had died the NIGHT AFTER I LEFT.” ID: 570236 writersandkitties.tumblr.com ID: 563777 Edward Gorey, known for his macabre, gothic illustrated books including The Gashlycrumb Tinies and The Doubtful Guest, as well as for illustrating for others’ books such as T.S.

Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. Gorey’s personal diaries were feline-focused from a young age; one which dates back to March 20, 1938, reads “Kittens OK! Kittens 11 days old. Tiger kitten has one eye open. Awful cute.” “It would be wrong to say that cats weren’t his first love,” said Ken Morton, Gorey’s cousin. “[Edward] said a few times that he liked cats more than people. He considered them his family.” ID: 570267 Via brainpickings.org ID: 569784 American author Ernest Hemingway published novels, journalism, and short stories, many of which are considered classics of American literature, including The Old Man And The Sea, A Farewell To Arms, and For Whom The Bell Tolls. He was a World War I veteran who was known for his hard-edged, masculine approach. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954.

Hemingway’s first cat, Snowball, was six-toed, and the author’s former home in Key West houses dozens of Snowball’s descendants – about half of which are also six-toed. Some people even refer to polydactyl (six-toed) cats as “Hemingway cats.” By the late ’40s, Hemingway had as many as 23 cats at any given time, and was known to refer to them as “purr factories” and “love sponges.” ID: 570277 hemingwayscats.com ID: 569913 In 1953, Hemingway’s cat Uncle Willie was hit by a car. He wrote a heartbreaking letter to his friend Giangranco Ivancich about his decision to put the animal out of his misery. “Dear Gianfranco: Just after I finished writing you and was putting the letter in the envelope Mary came down from the Torre and said, ‘Something terrible has happened to Willie.’ I went out and found Willie with both his right legs broken: one at the hip, the other below the knee. A car must have run over him or somebody hit him with a club.

He had come all the way home on the two feet of one side. It was a multiple compound fracture with much dirt in the wound and fragments protruding. But he purred and seemed sure that I could fix it. I had René get a bowl of milk for him and René held him and caressed him and Willie was drinking the milk while I shot him through the head. I don’t think he could have suffered and the nerves had been crushed so his legs had not begun to really hurt. Monstruo wished to shoot him for me, but I could not delegate the responsibility or leave a chance of Will knowing anybody was killing him… Have had to shoot people but never anyone I knew and loved for eleven years. Nor anyone that purred with two broken legs.” ID: 570281 writersandkitties.tumblr.com ID: 563787 Postmodern novelist, short story writer, spoken word performer, and essayist William Burroughs is widely influential in both literature and pop culture, declared by Norman Mailer as “the only American writer who may be conceivably possessed by genius.” He wrote semi-autobiographical and memoir, drawing on his experiences as a heroin addict and his world travels.

His most famous book, Naked Lunch, underwent a court case due to the U.S.’s anti-sodomy laws of the time. Burroughs was a devout cat lover who called them his “psychic companions,” and described them as “natural enemies of the state.” He wrote a book, The Cat Inside, where he wrote lovingly of his companions such as Calico Jane, Fletch, Rooski, Wimpy, and Ed. ID: 570320 Drawing of Poe and cat by Charles Smeldon Via writersandkitties.tumblr.com ID: 563858 Most famous for his short stories and poems, Edgar Allan Poe was an integral part of the American romantic movement, was one of the earliest American short story writers, and is believed to have basically invented the “detective fiction” genre. His interest in mystery and the macabre have led to his tales being celebrated as among the best “scary stories” of all time, beloved by children and goths alike to this day. “I wish I could write as mysterious as a cat.” - Edgar Allan Poe Poe was a cat lover and he and his wife/cousin Virginia had a cat named Catterina.

One of his scariest stories, The Black Cat, tells the story of a narrator who loved his cat Pluto until he came home drunk, tries to grab at his cat, and gets a nip in return. The storyteller gouges out the cat’s eye with a pen knife and eventually hangs it in the garden. The cat’s doppelganger makes his way back into their life and enacts a slow revenge, eventually driving the man so crazy that he kills his wife with an axe in a fit of rage. When the police investigate the murder, a wailing cat leads them to his wife’s corpse, and the man is caught and condemned. Justice! ID: 570809 ID: 570833 An excerpt from The Cat,, a chapter from The Summer Book by Tove Jansson: “It was a tiny kitten when it came and could drink its milk only from a nipple. Fortunately, they still had Sophia’s baby bottle in the attic. In the beginning, the kitten slept in a tea cozy to keep warm, but when it found its legs they let it sleep in the cottage in Sophia’s bed. It had its own pillow, next to hers.

It was a gray fisherman’s cat and it grew fast. One day, it left the cottage and moved into the house, where it spent its nights under the bed in the box where they kept the dirty dishes. It had odd ideas of its own even then. Sophia carried the cat back to the cottage and tried as hard as she could to ingratiate herself, but the more love she gave it, the quicker it fled back to the dish box. When the box got too full, the cat would howl and someone would have to wash the dishes. Its name was Ma Petite, but they called it Moppy. “It’s funny about love,” Sophia said. “The more you love someone, the less he likes you back.” “That’s very true,” Grandmother observed. “And so what do you do?” “You go on loving,” said Sophia threateningly. “You love harder and harder.” Via certosino.wordpress.com ID: 570911 Colette was a French novelist, most famous for her novel Gigi, which was adapted even more famously for stage and screen. She was also notoriously sensuous, having numerous affairs with both women and men, including her second husband’s son.

She also “discovered” Audrey Hepburn when she cast the then unknown actress on sight to play the lead in Gigi after she saw her walking across the lobby of a hotel. She has also been described as “the original Cat Woman,” and had a lifelong love affair with cats. She also loved dogs, after growing up surrounded by animals brought to the house by her mother, who “boasted of her ability to housebreak pets and children.” Colette wrote a novel entitled “The Cat,” which is about the engagement and honeymoon of a couple who is divided over the man’s helpless devotion to his cat, Saha. Colette’s cat lover, Alain, muses in the book “It wasn’t just a little cat I was carrying at that moment,” Alain mused. “It was the incarnate nobility of the whole cat race, her limitless indifference, her tact, her bond of union with the human aristocrat.” ID: 570934 diario.latercera.com ID: 571006 Raymond Chandler got his start as a writer at age 44, after being fired from his oil company job during the Depression.

His first novel, The Big Sleep, was published in 1939 and introduced the first-person narrator / detective Philip Marlowe, who would become famous and be featured in many of Chandler’s later books. He continued to publish shorts stories and novels throughout the ’40s and ’50s, but also began collaborating on screenplays including Double Indemnity, Strangers on a Train, and The Blue Dahlia. Chandler was an avid cat fancier who often wrote about his cats and even wrote letters as his cat, Taki. An excerpt (Taki writing to one of Chandler’s friend’s feline companions): “Come around sometime when your face is clean and we shall discuss the state of the world, the foolishness of humans, the prevalence of horsemeat, although we prefer the tenderloin side of a porterhouse, and our common difficulty in getting doors opened at the right time and meals served at more frequent intervals. I have got my staff up to five a day, but there is still room for improvement.” ID: 571050 Via writersandkitties.tumblr.com ID: 563881 Raymond Chandler’s agent H.N.

Swanson, said that Chandler’s cat “‘knew more about him than anybody else.” ID: 571080 writersandkitties.tumblr.com ID: 564381 “I said something which gave you to think I hated cats. But gad, sir, I am one of the most fanatical cat lovers in the business. If you hate them, I may learn to hate you. If your allergies hate them, I will tolerate the situation to the best of my ability.” -Raymond Chandler, in another letter ID: 571044 writersandkitties.tumblr.com ID: 563989 Poet and doctor William Carlos Williams “worked harder at being a writer than he did at being a physician,” but miraculously managed both. He began as a member of the Imagist movement, a group of poets in the early 20th century who were devoted to “clarity of expression through the use of precise visual images.” Later, he experimented with new techniques and influences, eventually settling on a unique personal style that centered on the daily life of ‘common’ people.

“Outside, the north wind, coming and passing, swelling and dying, lifts the frozen sand drives it a-rattle against the lidless windows and we may dear sit stroking the cat stroking the cat and smiling sleepily, prrrr.” - William Carlos Williams writersandkitties.tumblr.com ID: 563883 Truman Capote, American author of short stories, novels, nonfiction, and plays – including Breakfast At Tiffany’s and the true-crime novel In Cold Blood. He was a great friend of author Harper Lee and they often helped one another on projects, including Capote serving as inspiration for the character Dill in To Kill A Mockingbird. Capote was openly homosexual and an active socialite. Gore Vidal was quoted as saying “Truman Capote has tried, with some success, to get into a world that I have tried, with some success, to get out of.” Although Capote’s own cat love isn’t well documented, the nameless feline in Breakfast At Tiffany’s plays a major part in the heart of the story.

Holly sums up the novella nicely with the quote “If I could find a real-life place that made me feel like Tiffany’s, then I’d buy some furniture and give the cat a name.” ID: 580507 Via revistapolichinelo.blogspot.com ID: 580476 “She was still hugging the cat. “Poor slob,” she said, tickling his head, “poor slob without a name. It’s a little inconvenient, his not having a name. But I haven’t any right to give him one: He’ll have to wait until he belongs to somebody. We just sort of hooked up by the river one day, we don’t belong to each other. He’s an independent, and so am I.

I don’t want to own anything until I know I’ve found a place where me and things belong together.” -Truman Capote, Breakfat At Tiffany’s ID: 580512 writersandkitties.tumblr.com ID: 563888 Journalist/writer/editor/actor George Plimpton co-founded the Paris Review and was particularly well known for his immersive take on sports writing, often involving himself competing in professional sporting events and then recording the event. He pitched an exhibition game for the American League, on a team managed by Mickey Mantle, attended pre-season training and played in a scrimmage for the Detroit Lions of the NFL, trained in a National Hockey League preseason game as a goalie, and sparred for three rounds with Sugar Ray Robinson while working for Sports Illustrated. The cat pictured above was named Mr. Puss.

Goerge’s son Taylor recalled that “my father enjoyed nothing more than holding the beast high in the ait and making strange, affectionate sounds in that distinguished voice: “Yeanngghh, Puss… Yeaannngh Puss Puss Puss.” ID: 580547 writersandkitties.tumblr.com ID: 563891 Hermann Hesse – novelist, poet, and painter – most famous for writing the spiritual journey of Siddhartha and the semi-autobiographical Steppenwolf. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1946. At the time of his death, Hesse was practically unknown in the United States, but in the mid-’60s, Hesse’s works became bestsellers, celebrated among the counter-culture hippie movement. I could not find a scrap of information regarding Hesse and his cat, but I do know that these two pictures of him with a feline friend make me smile.

ID: 580588 writersandkitties.tumblr.com ID: 564487 “There is a single magic, a single power, a single salvation, and a single happiness, and that is called loving.” - Hermann Hesse writersandkitties.tumblr.com ID: 563933 Argentine novelist, essayist, and short story writer Julio Cortázar has been called “a modern master of the short story” and was known as one of the founders of the ‘Latin American Boom’ that brought latin literature to a much broader audience in Europe and America – a movement which also included Gabriel García Márquez, Carlos Fuentes, Jorge Luis Borges, and Pablo Neruda. Cortázar was knwon for his use of interior monologue and stream of consciousness, and he was interested in surrealist art, and improvisatory jazz. His most famous novel is Hopscotch. Cortázar was a cat lover who owned a cat named Theodor W. Adorno who he wrote about extensively in the book Around the Day in Eighty Worlds.

ID: 580803 writersandkitties.tumblr.com ID: 564490 “I sometimes longed for someone who, like me, had not adjusted perfectly with his age, and such a person was hard to find; but I soon discovered cats, in which I could imagine a condition like mine, and books, where I found it quite often.” - Julio Cortázar, Around the Day in Eighty Worlds ID: 580718 writersandkitties.tumblr.com ID: 563941 The poet Wystan Hugh Auden, born in England but later an American citizen, is regarded by many as one of the greatest poets of the 20th century. He also wrote essays and reviews. Auden published over four hundred poems, including two book-length long form works, and also including ballads, limericks, doggerel, haiku, villanelles, and baroque eclogue. He began writing poems at age thirteen, discovered T.S. Eliot at age 18, and wrote the first of his poems that would later be published at age 20.

“Cats can be very funny, and have the oddest ways of showing they’re glad to see you. Rudimace always peed in our shoes.” -W.H. Auden writersandkitties.tumblr.com ID: 564380 Novelist, poet, playwright, short story writer, and biographer Doris May Lessing was born in Iran (then Persia) to English parents who lived in Zimbabwe (then Southern Rhodesia) as a child. She was self-educated from age 14 on, and began work as a nursemaid when she was just 15 years old. She began writing after taking an interest in communist politics and sociology. Later on, she adopted the Sufi religion and wrote a series of science fiction novels called the “Canopus in Argos” series. Lessing became fascinated by cats at a young age, when she came across the semi-feral felines on the African farm where she grew up. As an adult, she had many cats, notably the awkwardly majestic El Magnifico, who she wrote about lovingly in the short memoir The Old Age of El Magnifico.

When asked about her efforts to communicate with cats in an interview, she said “the cat I communicated with best was El Magnifico. He was such a clever cat. We used to have sessions when we tried to be on each other’s level. He knew we were trying. When push came to shove, though, the communication was pretty limited.” ID: 581152 Via elcaudecati.blogspot.com ID: 581135 “What a luxury a cat is, the moments of shocking and startling pleasure in a day, the feel of the beast, the soft sleekness under your palm, the warmth when you wake on a cold night, the grace and charm even in a quite ordinary workaday puss.

Cat walks across your room, and in that lonely stalk you see leopard or even panther, or it turns its head to acknowledge you and the yellow blaze of those eyes tells you what an exotic visitor you have here, in this household friend, the cat who purrs as you stroke, or rub his chin, or scratch his head.” - Doris Lessing, The Old Age of El Magnifico ID: 581174 Via redredshoes.blogspot.com ID: 581228 Patricia Highsmith, 1921-1995, wrote widely-acclaimed psychological thrillers, including Strangers On A Train, famously adapted by Alfred Hitchcock in 1951, and The Talented Mr. Ripley. The protagonist/serial murderer in the latter, Tom Ripley, was featured in four more novels by Highsmith, known as the ‘Ripliad.’ Highsmith was an animal lover who kept pets of both cats and hundreds of pet snails. Urich Weber, the curator of Highsmith’s archive, once explained that “she was very happy among cats. They gave her a closeness that she could not bear in the long-term from people.

She needed cats for her psychological balance.” ID: 581273 A statue in tribute to Johnson’s beloved cat, Hodge Via katherinebarber.blogspot.com ID: 581491 Devout Anglican and English author Samuel Johnson wrote poetry, essays, criticisms, and published A Dictionary of the English Language in 1755, described as “one of the greatest single achievements of scholarship.” Johnson was also very famous for his critical philosophy, and his belief that the best poetry relied on contemporary language (as opposed to purposefully old-timey/decorative verse). He was also the subject of perhaps the most famous biography of all time, James Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson, which is among the works that have described Johnson’s odd tics and gestures in sich a way that has led to a posthumous diagnosis of Tourette syndrome. In Boswell’s biography of Johnson, he describes the great thinker’s relationship with his cat, Hodge. “Nor would it be just, under this head, to omit the fondness which he showed for animals which he had taken under his protection.

I never shall forget the indulgence with which he treated Hodge, his cat: for whom he himself used to go out and buy oysters, lest the servants having that trouble should take a dislike to the poor creature. I am, unluckily, one of those who have an antipathy to a cat, so that I am uneasy when in the room with one; and I own, I frequently suffered a good deal from the presence of this same Hodge. I recollect him one day scrambling up Dr. Johnson’s breast, apparently with much satisfaction, while my friend smiling and half-whistling, rubbed down his back, and pulled him by the tail; and when I observed he was a fine cat, saying, ‘Why yes, Sir, but I have had cats whom I liked better than this;’ and then as if perceiving Hodge to be out of countenance, adding, ‘but he is a very fine cat, a very fine cat indeed.’” ID: 581509 “Mirrors are not more silent nor the creeping dawn more secretive; in the moonlight, you are that panther we catch sight of from afar.

By the inexplicable workings of a divine law, we look for you in vain; More remote, even, than the Ganges or the setting sun, yours is the solitude, yours the secret. Your haunch allows the lingering caress of my hand. You have accepted, since that long forgotten past, the love of the distrustful hand. You belong to another time. You are lord of a place bounded like a dream.” -Jorge Luis Borges, To A Cat ID: 581487 Via weimarart.blogspot.com ID: 581297 Celebrated postmodern French philosopher Jacques Derrida developed a form of analysis known as “deconstruction,” which involved the assertion that all writing was full of confusion because of the inherent contradictions of language itself. Deconstruction requires thinking in a dual way about everything, analyzing and breaking down the conceptual opposites in language, art, and, ethics. In the ’90s, Derrida’s work took a turn towards ethics, such as in The Gift of Death, when he began to apply the principles of deconstructionism in interpreting passages from the bible.

Derrida wrote in a paper in 1993 that “deconstruction, if there is such a thing, takes place as the experience of the impossible.” Jacques Derrida was – unsurprisingly to anyone who has pieced together a semblance of an understanding of both deconstructionism and cats – a cat person. He wrote extensively of the feline gaze in an essay (originally delivered as a ten-hour lecture) titled The Animal That Therefore I Am (More to Follow)’. The essay focuses on a moment when a “real cat, truly, believe me, a little cat” catches the philosopher in the bathroom as he steps out of the shower and ‘stares’ at him, which causes Derrida to question the logic and ethics of establishing or assuming a boundary that distinguishes the human from the animal. He wrote at the end of that lecture “The same question then becomes whether I should show myself but in the process see myself naked (that is reflect my image in a mirror) when, concerning me, looking at me, is this living creature, this cat than can find itself caught in the same mirror? Is there animal narcissism?

But cannot this cat also be, deep within her eyes, my primary mirror?” ID: 581417 Via ttexshexes.blogspot.com ID: 581425 German-born American Charles Bukowski was a poet, novelist, and short story writer who was influenced by the ordinary lives of lower-class Americans, alcohol, women, and drudgery. Bukowski was described by Time in 1986 as the “laureate of American lowlife.” He wrote thousands of works, publishing over sixty books, many of them focusing on his home, the city of Los Angeles. His most famous books include his many poetry collections, plus the novels Factotum, Ham on Rye and Women. He also loved cats and was quoted as saying that “having a bunch of cats around is good. If you’re feeling bad, you just look at the cats, you’ll feel better, because they know everything is, just as it is. There’s nothing to get excited about. They just know. They’re saviors. The more cats you have, the longer you live. If you have a hundred cats, you’ll live ten times longer than if you have ten.

Someday this will be discovered, and people will have a thousand cats and live forever. It’s truly ridiculous.” ID: 581445 writersandkitties.tumblr.com ID: 563929 Samuel Clemens, pen-name Mark Twain, is one of the best-known American authors and humorists in history, most famous among many other works for writing the books The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and its even more acclaimed and revered ‘sequel’ Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Twain also penned numerous short stories and essays, and was described by William Faulkner as “the father of American literature,” a label that few seem to debate. Mark Twain was also rather besotted with cats. In 1898, Twain’s relationship with his cats was reported “Twain would call the cats to ‘come up’ on the chair, and they would all jump up on the seat. He would tell them to ‘go to sleep,’ and instantly the group were all fast asleep.

They would remain so until he called ‘Wide awake!’ when in a twinkling up would go their ears and wide open their eyes.” ID: 580694 What are gothic elements in "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe? Cite them. | eNotes What are gothic elements in "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe? Cite them. mrs-campbell | High School Teacher | (Level 1) Educator Emeritus Posted on July 3, 2009 at 5:12 AM Gothic literature has several distinguishing features. It often focuses on the dark, evil side of human nature. It asserts that everyone has a dark side, and in these stories, we find the characters giving in to that dark side, and doing awful things. Also, gothic literature has elements of the supernatural or unexplainable to it; ghosts, paranormal activities, and malevolent hauntings. Gothic literature also focuses on the confusing complexities of the human mind; characters often get lost in their thoughts, and suffer breakdowns from mental anguish and instability. If we look at the story, the narrator grew up a kind, loving and amiable man.

He has a "docility and humanity" in his "disposition," and is kind to all people, and animals. However, the story takes a gothic twist when, because of "intemperence," or alcholism, his personality suffers a "radical alteration for the worse." He becomes violent, ill-tempered, and abuses both his wife and all of their pets. The narrator has given into his darker side, and it leads to the death of his wife, and his trying to cover it up. So, we see a narrator who embodies the gothic concept of "mankind's dark side." Also in the story are elements of the supernatural. The narrator has disturbing visions of hanged cats, and his own cat inspired "terror and horror" within him. The black cat, supposedly disappeared, appears again, to torment the narrator and remind him of his evil deed, all while the cops are right there with him. So, the supernatural spiritual manifestation of the cat was occuring throughout the end of the story; this focus on ghosts and supernatural events is another gothic trait. We see the narrator becoming lost in the maze of his own mind as the story continues, which is another gothic trait.

He is tormented unusually and illogically by the black cat, and dwells on it so much that it drives him crazy. Those are just a couple gothic elements to the story "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe. I hope that they help; good luck! like 3 dislike 0 July 3, 2009 at 1:17 PM The enotes to Gothic literature make mention of the element of "privileged irrationality and passion over rationality and reason." This chaos of irrationality seems to be what moves the plot of "The Black Cat" by Poe and is its most salient feature. Even the narrator suggests his own abnormality: Hereafter, perhaps, some intellect may be found which will reduce my phantasm to the commonplace....Some calmer intellect, more logical, less excitable than mine will perceive...nothing more than an ordinary succession of very natural causes and effects.

That the narrator is "friends" with the cat in the beginning, yet he "maltreats" it by "a fiendish malevolence" in his "frame" which induces him to cut one of the cats eyes out points to his "privileged irrationality." In a chaos of confusion, the next day he feels some remorse for his act. Nevertheless, he subsequently hangs the cat because I knew that it had loved me and had given me no reason of offense--hung it because I knew that in so doing I was committing a sin, a deadly sin that would so jeopardize my immortal soul.... After his house is ruined by fire, the disturbed narrator returns to the ruins to see the cat in relief: cast in what had been freshly spread plaster. This "phantasm" of the cat remains with the narrator, who takes in another black cat. One day, however, in the chaos of his mind, he becomes angered at the second cat who causes him to trip. With an axe, he attempts to kill the cat; instead, his hand is stopped by his wife. Goaded by this interference into a rage more than demoniacal, I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain.

She fell dead upon the spot without a groan. This act is surely one of chaotic irrationality. It is horrific, too. When he cannot find the cat to rid himself of it, the narrator worries no more. Nor is he worried by the several visits by the police. Irrationally, the narrator boasts of his sturdily constructed walls, and a shriek is heard. Upon tearing down the wall on which the narrator has rapped, the police discover the decayed remains of the woman and the black cat whom the narrator describes, with red extended mouth and solitary eye of fire, sat the hideous beast whose craft had seduced me into murder, and whose informing voice had consigned me to the hangman.... like 1 dislike 0 March 19, 2013 at 7:51 PM "The Black Cat" as Gothic Literature One of Edgar Allen Poe's most famously read and celebrated stories is "The Black Cat." Like most of his other stories, "The Black Cat" follows the Gothic convention of literature, a style that explores humanity's fear and fascination with the unknown. Although it originated in Germany, it was revived in the 1700's.

Gothic literature investigates man's emotions, particularly fear, in the face of forces we cannot comprehend. Typical motifs of this type include darkness, horrid figures, grotesque imagery, illusion, and spaces. Stories of this sort strip us of our understanding, and sensationalize us, giving us a thrilling sense of terror that we enjoy. Although Perverseness is the theme of Poe's story, he uses the feeling of guilt as a kind of fear. By detailing the decline in the main character's mental state throughout the story, Poe demonstrates the loss of control over one's own behavior and the horrifying effects, touching on the fear of one's own self as fear of the unknown. The narrator beings the tail claiming to be perfectly sane, but over time his account shows that he indeed has a spirit of perverseness that surprises even himself. Through a series of violent acts, he brings about his own destruction. The elements of horror in this tale are very apparent. One primary element of gothic literature is the superstitious blurring of the line between the normal and the fantastic. Poe accomplishes this in a number of ways. The narrator, for example, is unreliable, being insane.

In his account, he claims that the exact shape of a cat hanging on a noose was imprinted on a wall in the ruins of his old home. Although he tries to explain it naturally, it seems that there may be supernatural elements at work. The changing shape of the gallows on the new cat's white spot have similar effects. The narrator's wife even had a suspicion of black cats. Revenants and haunts from the dead are often prevalent in Gothic literature. In the story, the second cat the narrator happens upon is a double of the first, and represents a revenant or ghost of the first-the one he killed. When the narrator kills his wife and walls her up, he attributes the scream from inside to the cat, although he describes it as sounding very human, as if his wife's ghost had screamed. Gothic architecture plays with open spaces and depicts the decay and gnarling of human creations. Likewise, Poe explores a lot of psychological space in his story, and takes the reader on an emotional tour through the mind of a madman until reaching his final emotional breakdown and mental defeat. Poe's narrator is so perverse that his mind eventually becomes so twisted it is inhumane.

The narrator could almost be described as a Byronic hero, being a flawed and tragic protagonist who is a danger to himself and others. Such a character is again typical of the old Gothic romances. As Gothic movement was in part a rejection of neoclassical rationalism, so does Poe defy all logical explanation of the events in his story, his narrator being completely vexed by his own uncontrollable actions. The destruction of his house, and the eerie basement of his new one are representatives of usual structural motifs of Gothic variety. He explores perverseness as a thematic gateway to inner, inexplicable terror. "Terror is not of Germany," Poe once said, "but of the soul." Thus he revitalized in Victorian America a genre that had all but lost popularity until his time. like 1 dislike 0 Celebrity Cats A true cat lover cradles a new kitten and knows that nine lives will never be nearly enough....Author Unknown. Celebrity Cats "One cat just leads to another...

the place is so damned big it doesn't really seem as though there were that many cats until you see them all moving like a mass migration at feeding time..." - Ernest Hemingway Ernest Hemingway was one of the more famous lovers of polydactyl cats. He was first given a six-toed cat by a ship's captain. As provided in his will, his former home in Key West, Florida ( The Ernest Hemingway Home & Musueum ), currently houses approximately fifty descendants of his cats, approximately 50% of whom are polydactyl. The house and its feline residents make a brief appearance in the 1989 James Bond film Licence to Kill. Brennen explores the life of the famous writer, the women he loved and the cats and dogs he befriended throughout his life. His animals often helped him to cope with his failing relationships, deep-seated loneliness and life-threatening diseases. Unlike life and love, Hemingway's cats never failed him By what right has the dog come to be regarded as a "noble" animal?

The more brutal and cruel and unjust you are to him the more your fawning and adoring slave he becomes; whereas, if you shamefully misuse a cat once she will always maintain a dignified reserve toward you afterward--you will never get her full confidence again. - Mark Twain, a Biography I simply can't resist a cat, particularly a purring one. They are the cleanest, cunningest, and most intelligent things I know, outside of the girl you love, of course. quoted in Abroad with Mark Twain and Eugene Field, Fisher Photo of Bambino by Mark Twain's daughter, Jean Clemens Mark Twain's cats "Fast Asleep"photo by Elmira photographer Elisha M. VanAken,1887 Mark Twain was asked: "What is better than a cat?" To which Twain is supposed to have replied: "Two cats!" Mark Twain's cats "Wide Awake"photo by Elmira photographer Elisha M. VanAken,1887 Motto: Momma loves morals and Papa loves cats.

- Susy Clemens (daughter of Mark Twain) Next to a wife whom I idolise, give me a cat - an old cat, with kittens. - Mark Twain in a letter to Olivia Clemens A home without a cat, and a well-fed, well-petted and properly revered cat, may be a perfect home, perhaps; but how can it prove its title? --Mark Twain Sung by Freddie Mercury (Queen) Written by Freddie about his Favourite Cat. Delilah, Delilah, oh my, oh my, oh my - you're irresistible - ooh ooh ooh You make me smile when I'm just about to cry You bring me hope, you make me laugh - and I like it You get away with murder, so innocent But when you throw a moody you're all claws and you bite That's alright !

Delilah, Delilah, oh my, oh my, oh my - you're unpredictable - ooh ooh ooh ooh You make me so very happy When you cuddle up and go to sleep beside me And then you make me slightly mad When you pee all over my Chippendale suite Ooh ooh Delilah Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh You take over my house and home You even try to answer my telephone Delilah, you're the apple of my eyes Meow, meow, meow, Delilah - I love you, Delilah oh Ooh you make me so very happy - you give me kisses And I go out of my mind - ooh ooh Meow, meow, meow, meow, You're irresistible - I love you Delilah Delilah - I love you, ha ha You make me very happy - oooh oh yeah I love your kisses My old black cat passed away this morning He never knew what a hard day was. Woke up late and danced on tin roofs. If questioned “Why?” – answered, “Just because.” He never spoke much, preferring silence: eight lost lives was all he had.

Occasionally sneaked some Sunday dinner. He wasn’t good and he wasn’t bad. My old black cat wasn’t much of a looker. You could pass him by – just a quiet shadow. Got pushed around by all the other little guys. Didn’t seem to mind much – just the way life goes. Padded about in furry slippers. Didn’t make any special friends. He played it cool with wide-eyed innocence, Receiving gladly what the good Lord sends. Forgot to give his Christmas present. Black cat collar, nice and new. Thought he’d make it through to New Year. I guess this song will have to do. My old black cat………. Ian Anderson Vocals, bamboo flute, acoustic guitars David Goodier Stand-up bass For twelve years I enjoyed the good company of a pretty average, unexceptional old moggy by the name of Mauser. He was so-called after the German armament company of the same name but Deutsche-slang suggests his name might also liberally translate as “Shagger” – quite inappropriate since he was de-balled and disarrayed as a young sir. However, he may have long considered eunuch meanderings of the third kind. Who knows?

He died of liver cancer quickly and painlessly just before Christmas and I wrote the song in the hours after the go-to-sleep-now needle went in. Funny old thing, sentimentality……… They’re an enigma, cats. They contain so many epitomes of maleness and femaleness all wrapped up in the one little furry bundle. --Ian Anderson Yoko, John & Pepper President Bill Clinton's Cat, Socks Sock eventually lost the position of principal Clinton pet in 1997 when the Clintons acquired Buddy, a Labrador Retriever. At this point some fans of Socks joked that Socks had been "voted out of office" of White House pet in favor of the more traditional dog. Socks found Buddy's intrusion intolerable; according to Hillary Rodham Clinton, Socks "despised Buddy from first sight, instantly and forever" and Bill Clinton said that "I did better with the Palestinians and the Israelis... than I've done with Socks and Buddy". When the Clintons left the White House in 2001 they took Buddy to their new home, but left Socks under the care of Bill Clinton's secretary, Betty Currie.

Socks was only the fourth cat to occupy the White House since Franklin Roosevelt's presidency Freddie Mercury's (Queen) Cats Martha Stewart & Her Animals Martha has 7 Himalayan cats (females--Teeny and Weeny, and males--Mozart, Verdi, Vivaldi, Berlioz, and Bartók), "Martha raised the bar for me and made me think big. . . . We have an alley cat, Ricky, that lives next door at the deli, and he roams in and out of the neighborhood. Ricky has no tail, he's dirty, and he acts like a dog. One morning during the trial, Martha was in the salon wearing a three-thousand-dollar Jil Sander suit. She was sitting on one of the chairs in the back. Ricky came in and jumped on top of her and was all over her, licking her neck and putting paw marks all over her. Martha said, 'Oh my God, this cat is so dirty, this is such a dirty little cat!' But she let him crawl all over her. She just dusted the hair and dirt off.

She really has a lot of kindness in her." -Eva Scrivo, Martha's friend and hairdresser Sir Winston owned an orange tabby cat named Jock who attended many war-time Cabinet meetings. Sir Winston commissioned a painting of Jock. Jock slept in his bed every night Sir Isaac Newton: Scientist and Philosopher. Sir Isaac, famous for his laws of motion and gravity, was a confirmed cat lover who was deeply concerned about the welfare of his feline friends. Therefore, so his research would go uninterrupted, and his cats should not feel restricted and be at liberty to wander freely in and out when the doors were closed, he invented the cat-flap. Edgar Allan Poe: Author. Poe used cats as symbols of the sinister in several of his stories, although he himself owned and loved cats. He used his tortoiseshell cat "Catarina" as the inspiration for his story 'The Black Cat'. Catarina was a house cat and during the winter of 1846 when Poe was destitute and his wife dying of tuberculosis, Catarina would curl up on the bed with the dying woman and provide warmth T.S. Elliot: Nobel Prize-winning British Poet and Playwright. T.S.

Eliot was a cat lover and he wrote an entire book of poems about cats. His "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" was set to music by Andrew Lloyd Weber and became the long-running musical, Cats. Nostradamus: Seer and Prophet [1503 - 1566]. The French Astrologer had a cat named Grimalkin. Renoir and Monet: French Artists. The French artists loved cats and depicted them in several paintings. Florence Nightingale: Humanitarian. Florence owned a large Persian cat named "Bismarck". She owned more than 60 cats in her lifetime. Dictators = Cat Haters? Difficult as it is to believe, not everyone loves cats. Genghis Kahn was a famous cat-hater and so were Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. It may be that men with dreams to dominate the world can’t get used to the idea that cats won’t submit to them. The same streak of ailurophobia (cat hate) affected the personalities of Napoleon Bonaparte, Benito Mussolini, and Adolph Hitler. Abraham Lincoln: American President [1809].

Abraham Lincoln came into presidential office accompanied by Tabby, his son's cat. Tabby was the first of several White House cats. Pope Leo XII. Pope Leo owned a grayish-red cat with black stripes called Micette. Micette was born in the Vatican and lived with the Pope. Rutherford B Hayes: US President. The first Siamese cat brought to the United States was a gift to the President. Martha's 9 Famous Writers Who Loved Cats « Petmate Portal 9 Famous Writers Who Loved Cats Thursday, August 15, 2013 by Sara Cats are often considered reserved, independent, and graceful animals. It is no small wonder, then, that many a cat has found its human companion in the form of writers (who are often thought of as reserved, independent, and linguistically graceful humans). Check out these 9 famous writers who loved cats, and be sure to follow the Writers and Kitties tumblr for more pictures of authors with their feline friends. 1. Ernest Hemingway Ernest Hemingway feeding his cat Christobal corn via JFK Library Hemingway is one of the most recognizable names in American literary history.

Despite his hard-edged, sparse writing style and typically masculine themes of war and violence, Hemingway was apparently a softie when it came to his cats. He owned multiple cats at any given time, including a polydactyl (6-toed) cat named Snowball. Hairy Truman, a Hemingway cat descended from Snowball. Photo via NPR. Snowball was allowed to run wild at Hemingway’s Key West house, resulting in a colony of cats descended directly from Hemingway’s original Snowball. About half of these cats, which still are allowed to openly roam the property of the Hemingway house, are polydactyl, leading many people to call 6-toed kitties “Hemingway cats”. 2. Charles Bukowski Hard to be tough with a cat in your lap. Photo via weimarart.blogspot.com. Another hard-drinking literary tough guy with a straightforward writing style, Bukowski is known for his poetry, short stories, and novels which deal with the drudgery of life as a lower-class American. He may have had a bluebird in his heart , but he had cats in his home.

Bukowski loved cats so much that he occasionally shirked his gritty subject matter in favor of his furry friends, as seen in his poem called “My Cats”. 3. Allen Ginsberg Ginsberg and his cat via Cultural Cat. A few weeks ago, the Contemporary Jewish Museum of San Francisco paid homage to the Beat Generation’s love affair with cats in conjunction with the museum’s current exhibit of photography by Allen Ginsberg. Ginsberg was one of the leaders of the Beat Generation, and his 1956 poem “Howl” is among the most recognizable pieces of Beat literature. Ginsberg owned and was often photographed with his pet cats, as seen in the photo above. 4. Jack Kerouac Kerouac and his cat via the New York Public Library’s tumblr Another member of the Beat Generation, Jack Kerouac is most famous for his novel On the Road, considered by many to be the “Beat bible”. Kerouac owned several cats throughout his short life (he died at age 47 due to complications from alcohol abuse), one of which was immortalized in his novel Big Sur.

The novel contains a passage in which Kerouac mourns the death of his beloved cat Tyke, who he had raised from a kitten and left with his mother in New York while he went on one of his cross-country adventures. 5. William S. Burroughs Burroughs with his cat Ginger. Photo via Vice. A third (and final, as far as this list is concerned) notable figure of the Beat Generation, Burroughs wrote many postmodern novels, novellas, short stories, and essays, the most famous of which is his 1959 book Naked Lunch. More relevant to this list, however is Burroughs’ autobiographical novella The Cat Inside, which consists of vignettes reminiscing about the many cats Burroughs owned throughout his life. 6. Sylvia Plath Drawing of a cat by Sylvia Plath via telegraph.co.uk Sylvia Plath was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer who is best known for her semi-autobiographical novel The Bell Jar and her tragic life story (Plath suffered from depression and committed suicide at the age of 30).

Plath’s life with cats is not well-documented, but they serve as the subject matter in her poem “Ella Mason and Her Eleven Cats” and in her drawing of a “Curious French cat” seen above. 7. Jean-Paul Sartre Sartre and cat via Writers and Kitties tumblr Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher who played a major part in Marxism and 20th-century French philosophy, and whose writings are still influential on literary studies, critical theory, and sociology. Sartre’s existentialism may be heavy, but the serious Frenchman might have found solace in his adorably furry cat, pictured above. Additionally, Sartre’s writing serves as inspiration to Henri Le Chat Noir , whose depressed feline musings entertain millions on the internet. 8. Edgar Allan Poe Drawing of Poe and cat via Writers and Kitties tumblr. Famous for his macabre short stories and poems, Poe was an American author who is considered by many to be the inventor of the detective fiction genre. A cat is the central mysterious figure of his short story called “The Black Cat”, in which the spirit of a cat haunts its killer.

Additionally, Poe and his wife Virginia owned a cat named Catterina. 9. Mark Twain Mark Twain with cigar and kitten via Maud Newton’s tumblr Another giant of American literature, Mark Twain is best known for his novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and its sequel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, as well as his oft-quoted humorous about life. Twain owned and adored numerous cats, and reportedly even taught some of them tricks! Some of Twain’s cats responding to Twain’s “Wide awake!” command. Photo via twainquotes.com Twain provides a quote which fits perfectly as an end to this post on famous cat-lovers. Twain once wrote, “When a man loves cats, I am his friend and comrade, without further introduction.” Do you know of any historical figures who loved cats? Have any thoughts on the ones shared here? Let us hear it in the comments below.

Question: Which writer had a pet cat called Caterina, that was the inspiration for his story ‘The Black Cat’?
Answer: Edgar Allen Poe